Our irrefutable opinion: If you do it you’re a really, really bad person.

Like most young parents trying to own a home in the Bay Area, my wife and I are perpetually broke, and probably go to a destination restaurant two or three times a year. We get someone to look after our 15-month-old, pull out a dog-eared copy of the Chronicle 100 and gleefully drive to the closest restaurant that has received Michael Bauer‘s stamp of approval.

We arrived at A Cote in Oakland last week, and took our seat in the tranquil patio, only to realize that someone else had brought their 15-month-old — the epicurean equivilent of going to an AA meeting and discovering that everyone is in the corner doing Jagermeister shots. The kid cried off and on throughout the meal and even though one of the parents took her outside once, it totally messed with our adults-night-out vibe.

… but you can enjoy a nice family-friendly meal here! And there’s no 8-month wait!

This isn’t about people bringing their kids to child friendly restaurants. Olive Garden and Applebys are fair game. I’ll also grudgingly stipulate that anyplace loud enough to get the bomb noise rating in a Chronicle restaurant review is probably OK for a young kid. But if you can afford to drop $100 at Garibaldi’s, then you can afford to get a babysitter.

Not what you want to see when you just ordered a $34 entree at Oliveto

I’m not a complete tyrant. I certainly don’t think anyone should be led in handcuffs from Fleur de Lys because their kid pitched a fit — assuming it’s the first time it happened. But I will suggest the following strictly enforced legislation: if people bring a baby or toddler to a nice restaurant, and they start to cry, the parents should be legally obligated to pay for everyone’s meal.